Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra at Thrasher-Horne Center, November 21, 2015

Classics by Beethoven, Mozart, and Ginastera, Courtney Lewis Conductor

 

The Jacksonville Symphony, led by Music Director Courtney Lewis, will bring an exciting program of classical favorites to the Thrasher-Horne Center on Saturday, November 21^st, at 8:00 p.m. This event is part of the Thrasher-Horne Center’s partnership with the Jacksonville Symphony. The concert will include Ludwig van Beethoven’s Consecration of the House, Alberto Ginastera’s Variaciones Concertantes, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony no. 41 (Jupiter).

Founded in 1949, the Jacksonville Symphony’s performance history has featured such renowned artists as Isaac Stern, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Marilyn Horne, Luciano Pavarotti and Itzhak Perlman. One of the nation’s top regional orchestras, the Jacksonville Symphony engages the community in many ways throughout the First Coast and statewide. 

The Jacksonville Symphony is the largest nonprofit provider of youth music education programs in North Florida. Each season nearly 70,000 young people and adults benefit from the Orchestra’s diverse educational and community engagement opportunities. Bringing the orchestra out of the concert hall and into the community makes a big impact.

This is a historic new era for the Jacksonville Symphony as Courtney Lewis takes the baton as Music Director in his inaugural season. Lewis brings to the podium a number of exciting new initiatives, including a Symphony in 60 series of three happy hour concerts, a Symphonic Night at the Movies series featuring three films accompanied by the Symphony, and six Signature Sunday Masterworks and Pops concerts.

Maestro Courtney Lewis

With clear artistic vision, subtle musicality, and innovative programming, Courtney Lewis has established himself as one of his generation’s most talented conductors. He conducted the opening and closing concerts for the Jacksonville Symphony’s 2014-2015 season. The 2015-2016 season marks his first as Music Director of the Jacksonville Symphony. Previous appointments have included Associate Conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra and Dudamel Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. From 2008 to 2014, he was the music director of Boston’s acclaimed Discovery Ensemble. Lewis is also the Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic through the 2015-2016 season.

Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Lewis made his major American orchestral debut in November 2008 with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. Since then, he has appeared with the Atlanta Symphony, Washington National Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Houston Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, and the Ulster Orchestra, among others. 

Quotes from Local Interviews of Courtney Lewis

At thirty-one years old, Courtney Lewis is one of the youngest conductors of a major orchestra in the country. He has been interviewed extensively in Northeast Florida’s newspapers and other media about conducting and his vision for the Jacksonville Symphony.

“My hope is that, as the Jacksonville Symphony moves forward, everybody will be aligned in a shared vision, that music is an essential thing, not a luxury. Everyone needs music, and we will present it at the highest artistic level. I’m very excited about the future of the orchestra,” Lewis told Frank Denton of the Florida Times-Union.

“Composing is a very lonely practice. I found that I wanted to spend my time working with other musicians. Conducting is the most social musical experience there is. It's very addicting,” he told Danny Kelly of Folio Weekly.

“I wanted to spend my life making music with other people, and conducting is the ultimate social musical experience… When everybody is pulling in the same direction, it’s the most exciting experience you can imagine,” he told Marylin Young of the Financial News and Daily Record.

Quotes about Lewis in Other Media

“Getting the best out of an orchestra is a challenge, but the young Belfast conductor proves he can handle it with performances of Prokofiev, Borodin and Shostakovich.” Michael Dervan, The Irish Times

“Lewis drew precise, energetic and persuasive performances from the orchestra in both the Tchaikovsky and the Stravinsky works.” Michael Anthony, Minnesota Star Tribune

“What’s most striking in the rehearsals is the rapport between Lewis and the players. His style of conducting is quick, alert, physically expressive.” Joan Wickersham, Boston Globe

“I couldn’t get the image out of my mind that Beethoven was smiling down on this talented, dynamic, and compelling young conductor.” Brain Jones, Musical World.

What does Maestro Lewis do in his spare time?

In his spare time, Lewis enjoys cooking, lifting weights, and travelling. He plays the piano for fun and listens to music for enjoyment. Not classical music, but today’s commercial pop. He also blogs on Jacksonville.com. The following is from his introductory post.

“Nothing prepares you for the first time you stand in front of a symphony orchestra and realize that everyone is staring straight at you! Terrifying, but thrilling. Simon Rattle once described conducting as ‘an un-kickable habit.’ I was an addict from day one. After four years at Cambridge, I went ‘Up North’ to Manchester to study conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music. From there I went to Boston for my first job with the Boston Philharmonic. During that time, my friends and I founded Discovery Ensemble, a chamber orchestra that played 18th- and 21st-century music, and also spent a lot of time going into schools in Boston that didn’t have any music education programs. It was incredibly rewarding to see kids’ faces light up when we introduced them to Beethoven and Ligeti.”

The Music

Beethoven’s Consecration of the House was composed in September 1822. It was commissioned by Carl Friedrich Hensler, the Director of Vienna's new Theater in der Josefstadt, and was first performed at the theatre's opening on October 3, 1822. It was the first work Beethoven wrote after his revival of studying the works of J. S. Bach and Handel, and bears their influence.

Alberto Ginastera’s Variaciones concertantes was commissioned by the Argentine Friends of Music, in 1953. It is scored for two flutes, piccolo, oboe, two clarinets, bassoon; two horns, trumpet, trombone; timpani; harp; and string choir. The work is in 12 parts, played without interruption.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completed his Symphony No. 41 in C major on 10 August 1788. It was the last symphony that he composed, and also the longest. The 41st Symphony is the last of a set of three that Mozart composed in rapid succession during the summer of 1788.  

The Thrasher-Horne Center

This concert marks the third main stage performance by the Jacksonville Symphony.  Tickets are now on sale.  Thrasher-Horne Center has several great additional performances coming up, including Boz Scaggs in November, Michael McDonald in December, and magician Mike Super in December. Check out the calendar.

The Broadway Season at the Thrasher-Horne Center begins in December. There will be six great shows including Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Ragtime, Always… Patsy Cline, Annie, Saturday Night Fever, and the Northeast Florida Premiere of Once. Subscriptions are on sale now on the Thrasher-Horne Center’s website.

Spread the word about one of Northeast Florida’s best kept secrets! Tell your family and friends about the Thrasher-Horne Center. Share this article with them. They will appreciate learning about what they have been missing.

We appreciate you taking the time to visit us. If you have a comment about this article, leave it in the comments section below.

In this article, I’ve written about the upcoming performance of the Jacksonville Symphony on November 21^st. Courtney Lewis, Music Director, will be conducting. This event is part of the partnership between the Thrasher-Horne Center and the Jacksonville Symphony.

America Comes to the Thrasher-Horne Center, Friday November 13th

Dewey Bunnell (left), Gerry Beckley

Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell have been making music together as America since 1970. (The late Dan Peek was also a member of the band until 1977.) America’s first big hit was A Horse With No Name, which made it to the top of the charts in 1972. They won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist that same year. America’s 45 year journey along Ventura Highway will bring them to the Thrasher-Horne Center on November 13^th.

Six of America’s albums have been certified gold or platinum. For the past twenty years, Beckley and Bunnell have been performing over one-hundred concerts per year. This past summer, they performed in New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, and Brazil. America has toured with Chicago and The Beach Boys, and they’ve also done shows with The Doobie Brothers, Three Dog Night, and Pat Benatar. 

America’s music has an enduring appeal that is
both inter-generational and international.

"I think that the ingredients of the America sound are the basic fundamentals that translate internationally," explains Beckley. "The Italians are huge fans of dance music, but they also love a ballad -they're romantic at heart. It's the same in the Far East. A lot of times in these countries, we see people singing along, and they don't really know what the words mean. Music is truly the international language." 

Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things

Dewey Bunnell is sometimes asked what America’s greatest hit, A Horse With No Name, is about.

“As seen through the eyes of an imaginary traveler on an unnamed mount, this song is quite simply a description of the sights and sounds of the desert. The chorus is my way of explaining how the desert, and nature in general, can be used as a sanctuary from the stresses of day to day living in the human world. The final verse is a call to help conserve the environment,” he says.

A Horse With No Name has been featured on TV in episodes of The Simpsons, Breaking Bad, Friends, and Parks and Recreation. The song has also been featured in movies including The Devil's Daughter, The Trip, and Air America. It was used in a commercial for the Toyota Auris Hybrid and in the video game Grand Theft: San Andreas Fault. Songs by America have also shown up in other unlikely places. In one episode of The Sopranos, Sister Golden Hair was playing on a car radio when a character was shot.

Ventura Highway and I Need You

America’s long list of hits includes Don't Cross The River, Tin Man, Lonely People, and You Can Do Magic. Many of the group’s songs have interesting tales to go with them. For example, people sometimes ask about the "alligator lizards in the air" line in Ventura Highway. Bunnell says that the line refers to cloud shapes he saw when he was growing up near Vandenburg Air Force Base in California.

Of all the songs America has recorded, the one that has been covered the most by other musicians was I Need You. Gerry Beckley says it was the first song he ever wrote - at the ripe age of sixteen. Musicians who have covered the song include Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis, Harry Nilsson, Linda Ronstadt, Leslie Cheung, and More Than Biology.

Back Pages

Like many musicians, America has put their spin on cover versions of other musicians’ songs. On their third album, Hattrick, they recorded Muskrat Love, a tune by Willis Alan Ramsey. The song was a minor hit for America. Four years later, it became a much bigger hit for The Captain and Tenille.  

In 2011, America released Back Pages, a CD featuring America’s versions of songs by some of their favorite fellow songwriters.  The CD had songs by Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Brian Wilson, and Paul Simon.

In  a review for American Songwriter, Rick Moore wrote, “Back Pages actually shows the gutsy side of America, in that they aren’t afraid to tackle some iconic material that many would have wisely shied away from… America’s voices and ranges don’t seem to have changed a bit; if anything, these guys are just getting better, as they sing with the confidence that only age can bring.” 

Lost and Found

In May of this year, America released Lost and Found, their first CD of original material since the release of Here and Now in 2007. The music on Lost and Found was recorded between 2000 and 2011, but has never previously been released.

Steve Houk interviewed Dewey Bunnell for an article about America that appeared in The Zebra this past June.  “Lost and Found is a little slice of the last decade, things that didn’t make it onto other albums, things we never got back to,” Bunnell said. “It’s a bridge between a new album, which may or may not happen, and having our real dedicated fans keep wanting to hear new stuff.”

Looking back, Bunnell told Houk, “We’ve obviously accepted and lived each and every one of those years, but when you add ’em up and look back, it’s pretty amazing. We’ve said it over and over that we didn’t really expect to be around this long, at least musically and professionally. But it’s been good to us and we’re more than grateful for it. We really enjoy it that much more as each year has gone on.”

Looking forward, Dewey continued, “I think the music is what it’s all about. The music is what you’re keeping alive, and those songs, you want them to be as fresh feeling as you can every night.  We want people to walk out of there going, ‘Yeah, we got out of ourselves for an hour and a half.’  All the bands from the 60’s and 70’s are bringing a slice of people’s past back to them, and I think that’s what you aspire to. And now that we’ve sort of passed over that line into being more than an also-ran band, it’s about keeping this thing going. It’s about the here and now. And in this moment in time, we really seem to be clicking.”

America’s journey down Ventura Highway continues. Get your tickets to join them as they make a pit stop at the Thrasher-Horne Center on November 13^th. 

The Thrasher-Horne Center

The Thrasher-Horne Center has other great performances coming up, including Boz Scaggs in November, Michael McDonald in December, and magician Mike Super in December. Check out the calendar.

The Broadway Season at the Thrasher-Horne Center begins in December. There will be six great shows including Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Ragtime, Always… Patsy Cline, Annie, Saturday Night Fever, and the Northeast Florida Premiere of Once. Subscriptions are on sale now on the Thrasher-Horne Center’s website.

Spread the word about one of Northeast Florida’s best kept secrets! Tell your family and friends about the Thrasher-Horne Center. Share this article with them. They will appreciate learning about what they have been missing.

We appreciate you taking the time to visit us. If you have a comment about this article, leave it in the comments section below.

In this article, I’ve written about the upcoming performance of America at the Thrasher-Horne Center on November 13th. Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley have been performing as America for over four decades. Their greatest hits include A Horse With No Name, You Can Be Magic, and I Need You.

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Bill Engvall at Thrasher-Horne Center on October 2nd

While working as a disc jockey in Dallas, Bill Engvall planned to become a teacher. At a nightclub one evening, he decided to try stand-up comedy. It didn’t take him long to discover that he was good at making people laugh. His ability to connect with an audience by sharing the humor in everyday situations has made Engvall one of the top comedians today and among the busiest.

Engvall attributes his 35 year career to his evolution from joke-teller to storyteller. Indeed, the breadth of his work spans small comedy clubs, nationally touring comedy shows, radio, television, films, albums, and books. Currently, he has been working on a new special called “Just Sell Him for Parts” and you can see him perform live at the Thrasher-Horne Center on Friday, October 2^nd, 2015.

At Home on Television

After moving to Los Angeles to pursue television opportunities, Engvall teamed up with Rosie O’Donnell in a Showtime Special called A Pair of Jokers. He also hosted A&E’s Evening at the Improv and appeared on both The Tonight Show and The Late Show with David Letterman.

In 1992, Engvall won the American Comedy Award for Best Male Stand-up Comedian. After appearing in episodes of Designing Women, Engvall went on to portray Buck Overton on Delta, an ABC sitcom starring Delta Burke. On the very popular Jeff Foxworthy Show, Engvall played Jeff’s best friend, Bill Pelton. It wasn’t much of a stretch since they are very good friends.

Engvall has hosted award shows, as well as several television programs such as LINGO for GSN, Country Fried Videos and Mobile Home Disasters for Country Music Television. He has also appeared in Kiss at Pine Lake for the Hallmark Channel, a three-episode arc in Hawthorne for TNT, and Bait Shop with Billy Ray Cyrus on USA Network. Eventually, Engvall produced and starred in his own self-titled sitcom for three seasons on TBS, and went on to become one of the stars of the sketch comedy show Blue Collar TV for the WB network.

In addition to the wildly successful Blue Collar Comedy concerts (which are some of the most watched specials in Comedy Central’s history), Engvall has many Comedy Central specials including Bill Engvall Live in 2004 and Aged and Confused in 2009. He reunited with Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy on Them Idiots Whirled Tour, which was filmed for a March 2012 special for CMT.

Just a Guy – A Very Busy Guy

The small screen has just been the beginning for Engvall, though. His television and stage success translated on to the big screen with Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie in 2003. He has also appeared in other films, including Strawberry Wine with Christina Ricci, Bed and Breakfast with Dean Cain, and Delta Farce. Engvall recently starred as Coach Z in the movie Catching Faith.

Engvall’s first album, Here’s Your Sign, was number one on the Billboard Comedy Chart for 15 straight weeks. It went on to high rankings on both Billboard’s Current Country Album Chart and Top 200 Album Chart. His single of the same name reached Gold Status after ranking number one on Billboard’s Country Singles Sales Chart for ten weeks and number 30 on the Billboard’s Singles Sales Chart. In 1997, Engvall won the “Best Selling Comedy Album” award at the annual NSRM convention, outselling albums by Chris Rock and Adam Sandler.

His second CD, Dorkfish, was certified gold (500,000 copies), and was – yet again – ranked number one on Billboard’s Comedy Chart. His subsequent comedy albums, 15° Off Cool and Aged and Confused, both debuted at number one on the Billboard Comedy Chart.

Engvall has even written several books, including Here’s Your Sign, You Don't Have to Be Dumb to Be Stupid, and his well-reviewed autobiography, Bill Engvall – Just A Guy. For someone who says he’s just a guy, he has been a very busy guy at that.

The Importance of Laughter

When asked why comedy is important, Engvall said, “I think that in this day and age people have to laugh. I mean look around, people are losing their minds. I can’t even watch the news anymore because I get so depressed. People need a release and I am so glad I am able to provide that.” (Buzz Magazine, October 2015) With that in mind, here are a few of his jokes to make you laugh:

I called my wife up on the cell phone and said “Baby you ain't gonna believe this. We just hit a deer with the airplane.” And there was a silence on the other end of the line followed by “Oh my god! Were you on the ground?” I said, “Nope, Santa was makin’ one last run.”

I pulled the boy close to me and said, “You see that girl? That’s my only little girl. So if you think about huggin’ or kissin’, remember these words. I ain't afraid to go back to prison.”

I called my pilot 2 weeks before I flew and asked him, “I don’t want to get sick, what should I eat?” He said, “Peanut Butter.” I said, “If I eat peanut butter, then I won’t get sick?” He said, “No, but it tastes the same comin’ up as it does goin’ down.”

I might have tried bungee jumping, until I saw that video of that guy whose cord came untied. He didn't know it 'till he hit the ground. Oh, he flew off that tower, hollering at his buddies. "Whoo, check me out, dudes! Oh, that ground is coming up..." WHAM! And what do you say, if you're the operator of that ride, to the next guy in line? "All right dude, you're up."

This guy from L.A. sits down next to me, and he says "You like baseball?" I said, "Oh, man, I love baseball." So he goes "Did you know that if Jesus had played ball, he'd have been the greatest ball player ever?" Like I'm gonna argue with that logic. So I sat there for a second, and then I said "did you know that if Babe Ruth had been the Messiah, the Catholics would have beer and hot dogs at Communion?" He left.

I've come up with the three things you never want to hear at your kid's parent/teacher conference. Number one: "You're only responsible for the first $10,000 worth of damage." Number two: "We have medication for this." And number three: "It was more than an ounce and he was less than a hundred yards from the school."

My wife collects twist ties. Welcome to my world.

Join in on the laughter and get your tickets to see Bill Engvall today!

The Thrasher-Horne Center

The Thrasher-Horne Center has other great performances coming up, including Boz Scaggs in November, Michael McDonald in December, and magician Mike Super in December. Check out the calendar.

The Broadway Season at the Thrasher-Horne Center begins in December. There will be six great shows including Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Ragtime, Always…Patsy Cline, Annie, Saturday Night Fever, and the Northeast Florida Premiere of Once. Subscriptions are on sale now on the Thrasher-Horne Center’s website.

Spread the word about one of Northeast Florida’s best kept secrets! Tell your family and friends about the Thrasher-Horne Center. Share this article with them. They will appreciate learning about what they have been missing.

We appreciate you taking the time to visit us. If you have a comment about this article, leave it in the comments section below.

In this article, I’ve written about the upcoming performance of comedian Bill Engvall on October 2nd. He has a long list of accomplishments, including his roles on The Jeff Foxworthy Show, Blue Collar TV, and Blue Collar Concerts.  Engvall has appeared in many movies and TV shows and he has written several books, including his autobiography, Just a Guy. 

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